The Arkham Diagnosis
by The Illusive Mann
Summary: After the revenge of Harley Quinn, a mysterious doctor comes from out of town to save the criminals that inhabit Arkham. Can this even be done? Who is this doctor? (Post Arkham City)
1. Prologue

Dr. Casey,

I have heard of your efforts to rehabilitate those so called "criminals" within that wretched institution that you call an asylum. Observing from what I have seen on the TV, I can tell that the treatments that you and your people are using are obviously not effective. I see that you and your people need professional help since the change of scenery occured.

This is the reason why I have decided to move to Gotham. Arkham needs a doctor that can actually uplift these "criminals" out of the darkness and into the light; Hopefully, your new warden has received my resumé and has a position available for me.

Sincerely,

Dr. Nathan McCreed


	2. Chapter 1: Welcome to Gotham

**Chapter 1  
><span>**

The thunder outside was quite loud. The continuous booming was reminiscent of the raids on London in 1941, only it was nature that was making the resounding noise, not the Germans. Down in the Batcave, Bruce Wayne was reading the emails between Dr. Brannigan, the head physician at Arkham, and Dr. McCreed.

The screens of the Batcomputer were covered in all sorts of government files. Nathan McCreed, as it is not known, served with ARGUS. The Dark Knight's scowl worsened when he read the name of the secret government organization. He and the Justice League had their dealings with the group and every time the corruption was always found, but McCreed did not send the same message.

As it appearered to be, McCreed was discharged after disagreeing with Amanda Waller. He disliked the way that they treated the members of the "Suicide Squad" by planting bombs in their heads. He disagreed with their methods and threatened to reveal this unit to the public. Waller knew that McCreed understood constitutional law and human rights, and she doesn't like it when people argue with her.

That was all that was on record, rather what was important to Batman. The Dark Knight spun his chair around looking out into the darkness of the Batcave. He was piecing together what he would do when setteled into Gotham tonight. Most likely, he was going to pay him a visit, his way.

* * *

><p>His plane touched down in Bludhaven. It had to because of the weather around Gotham. Nathan McCreed laid back in the taxi cab, his back was sore. This is what he gets for sitting in front of a restless child with the kicking power of a professional athlete.<p>

The pain wasn't worse than what he had dealt with in the past, especially with the people that he dealt with in ARGUS. He had dealt with these "Supervillans" before, but he didn't consider them to be such. Unlike the people of Gotham he actually looked at these people as human beings, not as the monsters that they have been called. Somewhere deep inside he knows that there is a moral side to those that are locked up in Arkham. Even inside of people like Killer Croc.

"Excuse me driver," he asked. "How long until we reach Gotham?"

The cab driver squinted to see the signs along the road and said, "About ten minutes."

Nathan looked around the driver's head to see out the windshield. Gotham wasn't a small city, and by now it should have been visible. His problem was that the passing storm had left behind a dense fog, leaving a small field of view ahead of the cab.

Nathan sighed as a stray thought crossed his mind. "_That blonde hair, that voice, those eyes...Harleen Quinzel was the most fascinating woman that I had ever met. The best part is that she is sing_..." before he could finish that part he stopped. "_Why did that thought even cross my mind? I met her when she was on the squad and didn't have these thoughts then but now it seems difficult not to think about her. I guess that I miss Felicia that much_..."

* * *

><p>He watched as the bright yellow cab pulled up to the hotel. The door behind the passenger seat opened and out came the man of the hour, Dr. McCreed. The driver hopped out of his car and popped open the trunk. Two bellhops came running out of the door to help with the luggage that was paced on the sidewalk. McCreed paid the driver handsomely and told him to keep the change, then he entered the building out os sight.<p>

From the records, his room would be on the twentieth floor, just high enough to see Gotham Bay and Arkham Asylum. Batman grappled up to the porch that jutted out of the building and stood by in wait for his new "friend" to arrive.

The door opened and in came the bellhops, then McCreed. As soon as they placed down the luggage he tipped them as well and sent them off. The Dark Knight stood and watched as McCreed unloaded his belongings. One thing that caught his eye was the magnum that he pulled out of his suitcase. McCreed set it on the table and Batman made a note of its spot.

While McCreed still had his back to him, Batman stepped inside, not a making a noise as he came in. McCreed continued what he was doing, which was loading the magnum in his hand. The very moment he loaded the last hollow-point in he spun around and aimed the gun directly at the caped crusader's forehead.

"You don't really think that i'm deaf do you?" said McCreed.

"No, you're not deaf, but you are pointing a gun at me."

"I'm only doing this because I don't trust you."

"The same goes for you. You worked for ARGUS while Waller was in charge. I'm surprised that you haven't been before congress."

"Trust me Batman," he spat. "I already told what I knew about ARGUS to the Department of Defense when they called me up. They were glad to rip that mess named Waller apart."

"Glad to see that we're on the same side."

"Actually we're not Batman. You see, I believe that you had a part to play in making these so called 'villains'. Your destructive ways have lead to the corruption of their minds and those bumbling idiots at Arkham made things worse!"

Batman took a step forward to get closer to McCreed, but the doctor continued to hold the gun in front of him.

"Don't even think about it." McCreed spat.

"You don't know what you're getting yourself into, do you?"

"I do Batman. What i'm going to do is make it so that Gotham doesn't need some mysterious, caped, vigilante that thinks that he is the law! I will heal these people and give them a new life worth living for, a life without Batman."

Quickly reaching into his belt, Batman threw a batarang at McCreed and knocked the gun out of his hand, then grappled it out of the air back to his hand.

"I wasn't meaning that I was going to kill you Batman." he said while holding his bruised knuckles.

"I knew you that wouldn't but I had to be sure."

"You're very lucky that this town bends over for you, otherwise I would call the police on you...thats right, the commissioner is your lapdog as well as the rest of the GCPD. This is why you are so untouchable. The people think that you are some great hero when all that you do is live your life on repeat. You throw them in Arkham, they want out so they get out, then you come in and force their hand."

"Now that is a lie. If you knew these people then you would know why I do what I do."

"Whatver you say Batman won't convince me. I already made up my mind about you. Waller may have been a manipulating wretch but she pinned you and your friends in the Justice League exactly as you are."

Batman threw the magnum across the room and made his way out. McCreed watched as the Dark Knight stopped in the doorway leading outside.

"I'm just letting you know that you've been informed on what you're going to face. Those that are in Arkham aren't going to show you mercy."

With that he fired his grappling hook at a nearby rooftop and zipped off into the night. McCreed on the other hand was waiting for a call from a certain somebody and the timing of the night was just right. He could hear his favorite song playing from across the room and nearly sprinted to pick up his phone.

"Hello?" McCreed asked.

"Dr. McCreed, did you make it?"

"I did Dr. Brannigan. This hotel is very swanky."

"Good, I would rather make our newest addition to the family here at Arkham comfortable before he goes through the crucible."

"Trust me doctor, i've already been through it."

"The Batman already visited?"

"Yes he did. Is it normal for him to do that to all of the doctors?"

"It is what he usually does and we are all better off because he checks all of us out better than we could."

"That's debatable...say, can I take a tour of the Asylum tonight? I just want to get a feel of the place and get to meet some of the inmates beforehand."

"Sure. We usually have lights out at 10:30 and its 8:22 now. I'll send a patrol car to come and pick you up, ok?"

"All right, I will see you then."

"See you then McCreed."


	3. Chapter 2: Arkham Asylum Part 1

**Chapter 2**

The great gates of Arkham were more intimidating to any newcomer than most of the regulars. Dr. Nathan McCreed wasn't intimidated at all by the entrance to the Asylum, as a matter of the fact he wasn't afraid of much at all. Compared to the other physicians working there, he found no good reason to fear any of the patients within the walls. To him they were all lost souls yearning to be freed from the bondage of the building and of Batman.

After the patrol car made it through the other lines of defenses it pulled up in front of the first building that sat behind a moss-covered fountain. The building was where all criminals were first sent in to be processed and where McCreed was to meet Dr. Brannigan and his associate Dr. Casey. A guard came and opened the door for him while an older gentleman came out to greet him. It wasn't Dr. Brannigan but from what he had seen on the news it was none other than Commissioner Gordon.

Extending a hand he said,"Welcome Dr. McCreed, its a pleasure to meet you."

"A pleasure to meet you too Commissioner."

"If you will follow me, i'll bring you straight to Dr. Brannigan."

"Dr. Brannigan couldn't meet me at the entrance? How come?"

"The good doctor's daughter was in a car accident downtown so he had to leave."

"And doctor Casey?"

"Dr. Casey is helping with a patient in the mental health ward right now so the only administrative faculty that you could talk to is Warden Grimes."

"At least he isn't busy."

* * *

><p>A brief walk through the courtyard in the center of Arkham led them straight to the Warden's office. There McCreed had a chance to meet Andrew Grimes, the warden of a renewed asylum. The two shook hands then sat across from each other.<p>

"You can leave commissioner."

The door shut and the conversation began.

"So, Dr. McCreed, your record proceeds you. Service in the military, a PHD in Psychological studies..."

"Don't forget my work in Starling City."

"Yes, you helped out numerous prisoners there and made them upstanding citizens."

"Indeed, though it was no small task."

"And neither will Arkham. Here we house the unbelievable mentally and physically."

"Of course you think that. Many people think that these 'villains' are insane when in all reality what they need is a new form of treatment."

"And what is that?"

"Love. I bet that Dr. Brannigan hasn't considered that."

"Dr. McCreed we here at Arkham have been showing love, an unconditional love that..."

**BUZZT! **

"OW you buttmunchers, why are you zapping me!" yelled a voice from outiside.

"You don't move you get tazed! Now move!" yelled another voice.

McCreed looked back at the Warden. He banged his head against the desk in despair and let out a sigh.

"Is that how you treat people here Warden? If this is the regular treatment then it needs to stop, because this is barbaric!"

"Barbaric? When Poison Ivy tried to wipe out a stadium full of innocent lives, do you think that she was trying to be nice? Or when the Joker was still alive when he tried to wipe out Gotham with a dirty bomb, do you think that he was doing that out of kindness? Dr. McCreed, your reputation proceeds you, but your method won't work here."

"It will warden, trust me. Once even one of them has been freed from their shackles, the rest will be seeking the healing that only I can provide."

"We'll see doctor. Right now I will accept your job application. Can you start tomorrow?"

"I can."

"Good. Come in tomorrow morning and we'll show you to your office. In the meantime, Dr. Casey is back in her office so she can give you a tour of our facilities."

"Good, i've been waiting for this all day."

As the door closed behind him, a tall, dark figure came out of the shadows.

"Do you think that his method will work?"

"We'll see. Right now Two-Face just came out of hiding uptown. I'll be back later to hear what happened."

"Do what you have to do Batman, my men will keep an eye on him."

* * *

><p>"<em>This prison is really large for being on such a small island<em>" McCreed thought.

Dr. Casey and the guards that escorted them had just gone through the mental health ward where the doctors put on their best show. Dr. McCreed Closely observed the patients and their conditions he shook his head in disgust. Arkham may have been upgraded, but the ward itself still looked like it was stuck in the 60s. While they were there they managed to pass by the cell of the notorious killer, Victor Zsasz. The deranged killer stared at McCreed and company like fresh meat and licked his lips.

"Did you manage to bring in another lost one?"

"No Victor," Dr. Casey nearly yelled. "Dr. McCreed is not another tally to add to your collection!"

"Not today maybe, but soon, sometime soon; after all, he needs to be broken in."

As the doors opened at the end of the hall Zsasz started going to a fit of laughter. It was so loud that some of the other lunatics in the cells around him joined him in a chorus of the insane and evil. The doors shut behind them and muffled the mental choir making absolute silence possible.

The next ward was where they housed most of the super-criminals. On the first block they had the regulars. Crane sat idly in the corner of his cell, mumbling something about revenge. To their left was Edward Nigma, the Riddler as many people called him. He had a pencil and paper with which he was writing down more deadly riddles for the Dark Knight and the GCPD to solve. Further down the hall they had the Penguin and Black Mask across from each other, which was a big mistake. The two were still arguing over terms and turf outside of Arkham, but silenced for a moment when the group approached.

"Well looky here would ya, a new doctor." said Roman. "Are you gonna rehabilitate me?" he said in a sing song voice.

Dr. Casey was about to raise her voice again when McCreed stepped in front of her.

"I am actually and when we meet you'll be free of the murderous thoughts that pervert your mind on a daily basis."

Penguin scoffed, "Please doctor, don't even bother with that nitwit. The poor idiot can't even count to ten without his henchmen."

"WHY YOU LITTLE SON OF A..."

Before Sionis could finish his words one of the guards stuck a tazer baton through the bars and zapped him. Black Mask, gangster and all around villain dropped to the floor like a sack of potatoes. McCreed ran over to the guard and took his baton from him and tried to snap it in half.

"What the hell are you doing doctor?" asked the guard.

"While...i'm...working...here...I...will...not...tolerate...things...like...that." he said between his attempts.

The guard snatched his baton back from the doctor before he could break it and pushed him back.

"You listen to me doc, i'm guarding your life and if I don't have this here baton then what stands between you and the low-lives here? Nothing but a body, that's right."

Dr. Casey helped McCreed up off the floor. Nathan had enough of the guard and simply walked ahead.

While the others pulled ahead Dr. Casey pulled the guard to the side and whispered, "Don't pull that again or it will be your job, got it?"

The guard nodded and the two caught up with the rest of the group, which had stopped in front of a particular cell, prisoner 4377, Harley Quinn. Between the hallway and the cell itself was a bulletproof window that gave a view of the entire room. It had pads all over the walls for some reason and there were no pointed edges in the room anywhere to be seen.

"Why does she have this specialized cell?" McCreed asked.

"We made it this way because she lost the will to live after Batman offed the Joker. She tried to kill herself multiple times so we had to put the collar on her too, dumb broad." said one of the other guards.

In a flash McCreed pulled away a baton from one of the guards and zapped the one who opened his mouth. The guard from earlier jumped on him before he could start laying punches and disarmed him.

"Dr. McCreed restrain yourself!" said Dr. Casey.

"Restrain myself? You should tell your guards to not speak their opinions around the patients doctor!"

"Dr. McCreed I understand that the guards here haven't met up to your standards, but as a colleague i'm telling you that these people have put them through hell and back."

"Yeah doc, you haven't even gotten to experience a breakout yet, we lose people!" said one of the guards.

"And you wonder why they always want to escape? Have you never talked to them as human beings?"

"We have Dr. McCreed and it hasn't worked."

"You're wrong, you're all wrong!" yelled McCreed. "It can be done and it will be done!"

As the situation cooled down McCreed was let go. Everybody got back on track except for Nathan. He still stood by Harley's cell and peered in at the sad, broken, form that lay in the corner, forever stuck in a state of depression.

"Don't you worry Harleen, you are the first on my list to receive a healing and you will get one."


	4. Chapter 3: Arkham Asylum Part 2

**Chapter 3**

The next morning the newspapers would repeat another headline, "Batman foils plot by Two-Face". Batman had stopped the plot by Two-Face, this time preventing the SWAT headquarters from being split in half. Again the reporters would have to rely on eyewitness testimonies because the Batman never gave interviews, some wish that he would. People still wanted to hear about how the Batman killed the clown prince of crime, the joker. He had so many opportunities before, why then? Why not kill the Joker earlier and spare so many lives? The people had questions but the Batman wouldn't give answers, so next time that elections would come around, Commissioner Gordon might not be leading the GCPD into battle.

In his heart Bruce knew this. Because he was remaining silent, those that help him on daily basis are likely to be out of power and soon. Jason offered him a seat in his group, since he did kill his killer, but Bruce rejected the idea. His loyalties were with the league and to be an anti-hero would be going against all of his principles.

The anger from that day still resonated in him. He hated that the joker was dead but it made things a little easier. Criminals feared him now, more so than the past. They all knew that Batman wasn't a killer but when the truth went around, crime took a huge plummet in Gotham City. Even with these statistics the criminals in Arkham still managed to break out and wreak havoc, just not in Gotham. Reports surfaced that Jervis Tetch was caught in Jump City. Bronze Tiger was caught in Starling City by his associate the Green Arrow. More of Batman's gallery of rogues were moving elsewhere to do their evil deeds, but after every failed robbery, assassination, murder, or plot they would all end up in Arkham.

"Master Bruce?" asked Alfred.

"Yes?"

"You missed a call from Warden Grimes sir."

"Did he leave a voice message?"

"He did and he mentioned something about that McCreed fellow."

From his chair the Batman bolted up and donned his cowl and cape. He was preparing for the worst and just hoping that it wouldn't happen for once.

"Do you want to call him before you arrive sir?"

"Sorry Alfred, but that isn't my style."

The top of the Batboat opened up and the Caped Crusader disappeared inside.

* * *

><p>The super-criminal containment ward was amazing. Poison Ivy, Mister freeze, Clayface, Killer Moth, most of the well-known baddies were there alongside one another in lock up. It seemed peculiar putting all of these villains so close together, especially after the last major breakout that the Asylum experienced.<p>

Most of the inmates had fallen asleep except for a select few. Each cell, compared to the previous ward, was double reinforced on each side. Ivy's cell for instance was completely sealed off from the outside world, so oxygen had to be brought in every day.

The group made their way over to the larger of the cells where there wasn't even a window to see inside. McCreed to a few steps closer to what was the front facing side and knocked on it. A low growl responded to him and then a monstrous voice that said, "Who's knockin?"

"I am Waylon."

"Who are you? I don't recognize your scent."

"That is because I am one of the new doctors here. My name is Dr. Nathan McCreed and I seek to heal you of your iniquities."

"Heal my what? Are you saying that i've got some disease?"

"No, I am suggesting your current condition is the cause of your iniquit...I mean problems."

Obviously Killer Croc didn't agree with him. Everyone heard the clinging of Croc's chains and his "you are dead" growl coming from the cage. Dr. Casey stepped forward to get Dr. McCreed to stop talking but the sudden pounding of Croc's fists against the steel walls of his cell stopped her in her dead in her tracks.

"YOU SAYIN THAT I GOT A PROBLEM DOC!? WELL YOU'RE BARKIN UP THE WRONG TREE!?"

With all of the ruckus coming from Croc, some of the inmates started to become curious.

"A new doctor? This is interesting." said Mr. Freeze

"A brand new doctor indeed. He does seem like more of a man than the others here" said Ivy.

"Are you sure that he isn't a guard?" asked NoBody. "His muscular form suggests combat training."

Dr. Casey had enough and decided to pull the plug on this disaster before it went further south.

"Dr. McCreed," she yelled,"we are going to end the tour right here tonight ok?"

"But Dr. Casey, I was just beginning to conversate with Mr. Jones."

"ITS CROC YOU NUMBSKULL!"

"Guards, please escort Dr. McCreed to the GCPD patrol car outside."

Dr. McCreed resisted the order that the guards were given at first. He just wanted to talk to one of the more violent inmates first and he would probably have to wait a while just to talk to Waylon Jones. Right before the doors closed on their way out Killer Croc yelled, "NEXT TIME I SEE YOU DOC I'M GOING TO FEAST ON YOUR BONES! BAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

* * *

><p>In the security center both the warden and Batman had watched it all.<p>

"I think that I made a mistake in listening to you" he while staring at the monitor. "I mean, he got on Croc's bad side and fast. It usually takes longer than that but you saw what I saw. The man sympathizes with those criminals and it's going to be the end of him."

Batman watched as McCreed was checked out. His demeanor changed when he was basically dragged out of the room and he kept looking back. Maybe he was afraid that Croc was going to come running down the hall at any moment, or he was still thinking about Harley Quinn.

How someone feels is easy to describe by what they show or do. While he was being checked out McCreed continually looked back at the doors behind him and sighed. Somehow he had a connection to Quinn and it was beyond just seeing her for the first time. He would be found out, but that would require a visit to Amanda Waller's office in the pentagon. Dick owed him a favor, and now was an opportunity to cash it in.

* * *

><p>On the way back to his apartment McCreed thought about what all went down in the Asylum today. He had never met people of this caliber before and Arkham truly was an opportunity to test his method.<p>

While the car had made another right turn he noticed something missing outside the car, people. The street was completely barren. An ominous feeling in his stomach started coming forth, a feeling that he had not felt in a while. It was his warning signal back when he was under Waller's boot, but he wasn't now. What it could it be?

Suddenly the patrol car came to a stop. McCreed looked out the windshield to see what stopped the vehicle, but he didn't see anything that would cause the officer to slam the breaks like he did.

"Officer, what is the meaning of this?" he asked.

The familiar sound of a 9 millimeter cocking came from the front seat. His escort, the officer, opened the grate that separated the front seat from the back and pointed the gun right at McCreed's head.

"You don't know me, but I know you McCreed."

"_He sounds young_" Nathan thought. "_He can't be older than 40_".

"Whoever you are, I don't want any trouble."

"Good. Waller wants to talk with you."

Nathan cringed. He hoped that he would never have to deal with that wretch of a woman again, if she could call herself that. Now a man with a gun says that the very woman wants to see him.

"I signed a legal document saying that if she tried to get near me..."

Suddenly the gun came much closer to McCreed's temple than he wanted it to.

"Do you think that Waller cares about a piece of paper? Waller has plenty of weapons at her disposal and it just so happens that one of them is me."

"What does she have on you? Phone records? Internet history? Family in the hospital?"

"How about none of the above...how about a sister who's gone missing all of a sudden and when I found her, Waller has a gun pointed to her head?"

"I'm sorry. What does she need me for?"

"Waller knows that you have security clearance in Arkham. She has a few people that she wants freed so that she can wage her war."

"War? War against who?"

"The government."

Time itself froze. Waller was a woman with a mission, she had been trained that way since the beginning of her involvement with the government. To hear that she had declared war on the government was insane, really insane.

"Why the hell is Waller doing this?"

"Because they burned her for a failed Op in Russia. Now she can no longer leave her home now without having a sniper trained on her."

"Well, i'm sorry about your sister, but I cannot abuse my power just to help Waller out."

"I'm sorry to hear that too. It was nice to finally meet the boogey man."

The sound of a trigger scratching against the metal encased around it was a horrible noise. To the normal ear, not a problem, to the trained ear it was like nails to a chalkboard. McCreed reacted to his training as he should have.

First step was to disarm the enemy. To disarm one's opponent, one must either cause enough pain to release the weapon or deal with the weapon itself. McCreed chose easier part and nearly twisted the fake cop's wrist off. The result of that was the gun discharging out the back window.

Ears from above heard this and the rest of the conversation that followed. Using his cape as a parachute, Batman broke his fall by catching air underneath his artificial wings. His feet collided with the front part of the vehicle, smashing it in on McCreed's attacker.

Light came in from the hole in the roof and a hand reached out from it. McCreed gladly took it and pulled himself out, only to meet...

"Batman, I see that you've been stalking me."

"If I hadn't been following you, you would have died."

"Died? I may have served in a lesser position in ARGUS, but I was trained as much as other agents. Disarming people was a course that I excelled in as well as most other CQC exercises. Just letting you know."

"Do you know who you were dealing with in that car?"

"No, but they were as human as I am, no super powers involved."

The Dark Knight reached down and peeled back the top of the car like a can opener would a can. The front seat of the car was visible and in the driver's seat was Floyd Lawton, A.K.A. Deadshot. McCreed froze when he realized who the unconcious assassin was.

"I guess that you worked with him before."

"I did. Did you hear what he told me."

"I recorded everything. Waller is going to have a visit before the end of the day."

"Never would I thought that this would come out of my mouth but, thank you Batman."

"You don't need to thank me. I do these kinds of things on a day to day basis."

As the sirens approached McCreed looked away for one second an when looked back, Batman was gone.

"It will take time to get used to that."

* * *

><p>In Washington D.C. Amanda Waller was going into an early retirement whether she wanted to or not. Months ago she had been grilled before congress, and now she was thinner and at less of a risk of a heart attack. She would have been thrown in jail had it not been the terabytes of incriminating data that she had on hand.<p>

During her forced retirement she decided to catch up on a pastime of hers, reading novels. In the past she was too preoccupied to really get in to a good book and now she had all of the free time in the world.

Leaning back in her seat she closed the book in hands and sighed.

"I know you're there, you don't have to hide."

"I don't think that stepping anywhere in the middle of your living room with the lights on is going to be helpful to me."

"What do you want?"

"I want to know why you have Lawton's sister held captive."

"Who told you that?"

"Lawton was holding someone that you may know of at gunpoint and threatened his life."

"Who?"

"Nathan McCreed."

She remembered him and Batman could tell it. They let him go because of his views on bombs in people's heads. Why somebody would go after the field medic of the Suicide Squad was understandable. He gained the name 'Boogey Man' for a reason.

"Nathan disagreed with our treatment of the cons. He didn't think that it was proper to do that because they were people too."

"I know about that and that he was a field medic, but why did Lawton refer to him as Boogey Man?"

"The Pentagon covered up the fact that he was previously a member of Team 7. I'm sure that you know who they were."

"The top secret unit of soldiers with super powers. I've read about them, but what is McCreed's involvement?"

"McCreed went on a top secret mission to China, solo. There he would recover an alien artifact that the Chinese were trying to weaponize."

"What happened?"

"He retieved the device without a single shot fired. When he came back he had a different look about him. He also gained powers of his own."

"What kind of powers are talking about."

"To make it brief, whenever he comes in contact with another person's skin he is able to use his powers."

The Dark Knight turned to leave, but Waller snapped her fingers.

"One more thing. While he was with ARGUS, he had a fixation on one of the members. Harley Quinn I think."

"Noted."

Being as stealthy as he could he left the quiet apartment. Now he knew what Deadshot was talking about and now he had more questions for McCreed.


	5. Chapter 4: Doctor Who?

**Chapter 4**

The next day the sun burned brighter than the previous. For once in a while, clouds did not occupy the sky over Gotham. The people below felt the wondeful feeling of joy that came with sunny days.

Across the way in Arkham, McCreed was settling in to his new office, which sat right next to that of. Though his office paled in comparison to Brannigan's he his best to make it look presentable. Previously his office had been occupied by a doctor that was driven insane by Crane's fear toxin, so he had to cover up the places where there were nail scrapings on the walls.

While he was preparing his humble abode, as it should be, he still had Lawton's words in his mind. Waller was a manipulative and vile woman, but she had been put on trial before congress and before the military. How could she have the capabilities to contact Lawton then? It puzzled him as much as whether the Picasso painting should go up by the door or the Van Gogh. Indecision made him stuff the paintings back in the box where they came from and seal it back up.

In the hallway the sounds of doctors going to and fro concealed the pair of high heels that was heading straight for him. Once they finally made their way into his office the voice that followed them spoke up.

"Nate?"

The doctor turned towards the door seeing a sight that he had missed.

"Sissy?" he said with a smile. "What are you doing here?"

As she leaned against the door she shook her head,"Don't you remember that I live here?Gotham is my home now."

"I did, it just didn't cross my mind to even come and see you."

"Really? I haven't seen you ever since you joined the military, which was more than two years ago, and you just totally forget me?"

"I'm really sorry that I didn't see you when I got here, but I was busy from the moment that I got into my hotel."

"So are you going to do here what you did in Central City?"

The doctor paused for moment to sum up all of his confidence in a single word.

"Yes."

* * *

><p>Waller didn't have a clue about Lawton or his sister. The question right now was who sent him and why? Could one of the former members of the suicide squad be orchestrating the whole thing or is this some random figure from McCreed's secretive past?<p>

Right now he felt like he was hunting down the riddler with all of the questions running through his head. He hated having so many questions and so little answers, but he was the world's greatest detective after all.

First he needed to know about McCreed's supposed power of persuasion. There had to be a record, a first hand account of what McCreed could do. The best source for something like that, lucky for him, was in the hometown of the fastest man alive. All he would have to do was ask him for the documentation and he would be there in a flash.

The next part of the case centered around who played themselves off as Waller since she is incarcerated for the time being. Waller is a hard woman to impersonate, and with anything that she could use somewhere in a secure military facility. Lawton must have thought that Waller had some way of pulling the strings from her home, but that was way too far fetched to be true. The security wall built around her would have picked up something even if she tried.

The only way of finding out who framed Waller is to talk to Lawton and get ahold of his phone. One would be easy, talking to Lawton would be something else. He may be a cocky killer, but his training made him tough to crack.

There was a lot that had to be done and he had one option to call for help.

"Oracle, I need you to call Dick. Tell him that we need him to help with an ongoing investigation."

"Ok. I will see if he's not busy, though when I called him yesturday he said that he had some problems with the Clock King."

"Can you call and see if he's still busy? I could really use the extra pair of hands to help out with this."

"I will see what I can do. In the meantime I did find something interesting, and it is related to McCreed."

"Send it to me, I'll look at it later. Batman out."

"Before you hang up I would expect Barry to be there within then next minute or so. He just stopped by West Point to send off our troops on a peacekeeping mission."

* * *

><p><em>It was her again. Her body was transparent as it always was in the dreams he had. She had been appearing again and again since that operation in China. Eiling gave him the command and he went, alone. He recovered the artifact, alone and the best part was that he encountered the inhabitant inside said artifact.<em>

_She radiated like the sun, except she had a pinkish hue. Her hair was like the very tendrills of the Galaxy, best depicted by scifi movies...but she could never match the love of his life._

_"Nathaniel, why do you continue to do this? My people's gift is a gift meant for communication, not self gain." She whispered into his ear._

_"I know that Felicia I..."_

_"You brought her up again Nathaniel." _

_She tip toed away from him and looked back._

_"My people don't feel guilt when they lose a mate."_

_His nails dug into the mahogany desk that he had brought up from that night. A pool of blood stood at the bottom like a dog loyal to its master. McCreed sobbed into the crook of his arm. _

_"You need to forget about her and do as I ask."_

_McCreed stared back at the glowing figure, anger in his look._

_"I told you that I wouldn't find what you are looking for. Your gift is the greatest thing that has happened to me and I am going to use it to help the world. I don't care what you think I should do, after all, you entered my body. What I use your gift for is my concern."_

_Even in his dreams he could feel what she felt. He could feel rage was burning inside her body and with that came vengeance. She made him relive that painful night, the night he lost the most meaningful person in his life._

_"AAAAAAAAAAAAAGH! YOU ALIEN HARLOT!"_

_"I know that you've practically created a mental block with that memory McCreed, you can't fool the one who shares your mind."_

_Then something strange happened. McCreed didn't get up._

_"I don't believe it, I actually cracked you."_

_"Damn it...why can't you just shut up and leave me alone."_

_"I won't leave you alone McCreed, not until you fulfill your purpose with me. Mate with me!"_

_"No!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. "Your powers are a blessing and I will use them again and again until the whole world is healed!"_

_"That is where you are wrong McCreed. Humanity has a condition and one man alone cannot solve it. You will die before you can save everybody"_

_"And you will die with me."_

_Her mouth opened once more. As she had done night after night she wailed. The sound of her voice assaulted his eardrums. He clutched at his ears to stop the violent attack but the noise breached through flesh and bone._

_Then there was silence, a sound that McCreed truly loved._

* * *

><p>"This was all that that I got." Said the speedster. "McCreed did a lot for Central City, it was hard to find anything incriminating."<p>

"I'm not trying to throw McCreed in prison Barry, I just need to know what he could be hiding."

"Well in that case, you should take a look at this case file." he said as he handed the file over.

It's cover was smothered with "confidential" and "special clearence necessary" stamps. The location on the listed on the binding mentioned something about Washington D.C. His only guess was that Berry paid a visit to General Marvin, someone that owed the speedster his life.

The second he opened the file a picture slowly made its way to the floor. Batman picked up the photo and took a close look at it. He didn't recognize the woman in the picture, but he could tell what she had been through. Her eyes had the same look that he had seen from Deadshot's targets, the only thing was that deadshot didn't carry a sword.

There was a painfully obvious opening in her neck and the height and width suggest a sword. Judging by the style of the cut and other cases that he had gone over he had already guessed who the culprit was.

"Her name was Felicia McCreed. When I talked to him, back when he worked in Central City, he told me about her death. He didn't go into any of the details that are in that folder but it was still tragic what happened to his wife."

The file had an extensive look at how everything transpired including McCreed's testimony when the police questioned him. Even with his extensive training while he was ARGUS, he didn't even believe that McCreed could have killed her.

"I know that I don't say it that often but thank you Barry."

"You're welcome, now if you'll excuse me I have a date with a certain lovely lady."

Like his name, Barry disappeared in a flash. Batman finally had one piece of the puzzle that was Nathan McCreed, but he still had two more questions that needed an answer. One, who really pulled the strings with Lawton? Two, what did McCreed do in China that changed him. Both would be answered one way or another. In the meantime, his city needed him.

* * *

><p>"Hello?"<p>

"McCreed, its Brannigan."

"Brannigan? Why are you calling me so late in the night?"

"Listen, I know that you just got settled in and all, but how would you like to have an interview with Isley tomorrow?"

McCreed rubbed his temple and sighed, "Isn't she reserved for people who have more clearance and why can't you find a female doctor?"

"Yes, she is reserved for higher level doctors but your experience has that covered, that and I just gave you the clearence to interview these patients."

"Well thank you doctor, I..."

"Also miss Isley can affect the opposite sex as much as men. We've seen this happen before, poor Gretchen."

"What happened to her?"

"Isley infected one of her guards with spores and made her kill Dr. Gretchen in her sleep."

"Thats awful."

"We've learned from our past mistakes here at Arkham. That is why you will be wearing a specialized gas mask "

"Oh joy.."

"Don't worry McCreed, you'll be fine. I will let you go now, you'll need the rest for your interview tomorrow."

"Thank you Dr. Branningan."

As soon as the other end of the phone cut off, he nearly jumped for joy. He had the clearence that he wanted and finally had the chance to prove himself to Gotham and it's so called defender, the Batman.


	6. Chapter 5: Dr McCreed Meet Dr Isley

**Chapter 5**

Today was the day...

Nathan McCreed sat across from his first interviewee, Pamela Isley, A.K.A. Poison Ivy. The figure across from him, to those who didn't know her, would easily woo any man that was in her prescence.

In her mind McCreed was just another fool to seduce with her powers, especially since he wasn't wearing the mask that Dr. Brannigan had offered last night. Many of the doctors sung the very same tune that they played at his father's funeral, taps. His co-workers were bascially saying that he was as good as dead, it as very comforting.

McCreed tuned them out the whole way through, he even tuned out his closest co-worker, Dr. Casey. She was almost in tears as she tried to shove the mask into his hands but he just pushed her aside. Not known to everybody that was watching, they were about to witness a miracle.

Dr. McCreed pressed the recording button on his smart phone and the cession began.

"Good morning miss Isley." McCreed said in a giddy tone.

"I know that you are new doctor but you must be stupid to be in here without some form of protection."

"Miss Isely, I know what you can do and I am not worried at all."

The doctors outside were holding their hands over their mouths in shock. Even the villainess herself couldn't believe what he said or why he was smiling. She could kill him at any moment an he was grinning from ear to ear. Either the doctor was stupid or belonged with Zsasz in the mental ward.

"So Pamela..."

"Ivy..."

"I think that you mean Isley."

"What are you even doing doctor? Are you trying to anger me?"

"No, but you need to realize that when I speak to you I am speaking to Pamela Isley, not this alter ego that you have constructed for yourself."

Pamela huffed, "Fine."

"So, lets begin with this. I understand that you have the ability to control flora, am I not correct?"

"Yes, and if you read the file on my you know that I have one hell of a kiss."

The green woman puckered her lips and blew a kiss across the table to McCreed. The crowd outside watched in terror as it enclosed on him. The visible red mist embraced him. It found its way inside his nostrils and into his body.

Ivy watched as his body writhed, soon to be under her command. Then he stopped flailing about. His head fell slack against the back of his chair and all of a sudden it rose again. The doctors focused the camera outisde on his face to see what had happened to him.

It was a miracle.

Ivy was shocked by the fact that she couldn't feel him, she couldn't control him. It angered her and McCreed knew it. He promised to treat her in the most humane way possible and if she was going to try to kill him at the start, then he would still press on.

"Wha...what?"

"I know, your kisses don't affect me at all and its not because I bat for same team. I have built a resistance to being poisened, stabbed, beaten, and shocked throughout my life so a small cluster of spores is not going to bring me down."

"It's impossible, only the batma...the batman...he must have given you an anitodote!"

"Correction Pamela, he didn't give me an antidote. By the way..." he said as he pulled out a small glas jar. "I won't let you touch what is inside the jar if you don't behave."

The villainess stared at the glass container and so was the staff. Inside was a sapling.

"It's..."

"Healthy? Miss Isley, I may not be an environmentalist, but I do love plants."

"You don't have to be to love studying them" she said.

"Tell me what type of tree is this tree?"

"It's an Acai tree. Judging from the looks of it this one came from Brazil."

McCreed placed the jar on the table and leaned back in his chair.

"Tell me, what is in Brazil?"

The villainess looked at the jar and then looked back at him. She did not know what he was going for. He was already an idiot in her eyes so what else could he do to make her think otherwise?

"Other than the Amazon Rainforest..."

The doctor reached to his side and pulled out a portfolio he snagged on his way in. He went through the photos that were neatly organized in the folder and pulled out three. One by one he placed them on the table, making sure that she could see what was in each picture.

One had an image from Brazil. It was an image that one could pull off of a search engine and print. The other two were more grim. The middle picture showed that same forest except it had been chopped down. Ivy cringed at that photograph, imagining what kind of "pain" the flora must have endured during the whole process.

The last photo threw her off guard. Marked at the bottom with the ensignia of the GCPD was a picture of a little girl that had been chopped in half. To her side was a sharpened vine.

"When was this?"

"One year ago on this day Pamela. I know what you approve and disapprove of and this..." he said poking the picture. "this is against everything that you stand for, or it should be. You preach against those that cause the forests of the world to wither away and all plantlife that dies by human hands, but you miss a key factor."

He pointed at the picture again, this time with a more serious look on his face.

"You would easily turn away from the death that YOU caused. YOU hacked this little child and hundreds more down without a single regard of their life! Pamela, I know that you are better than this!"

Like he had always done in the past he reached out for her hand. Once the contact was made, the waterworks slowly began to build. The doctors watched in awe as Poison Ivy, a woman with a heart of stone, was bawling because of a few points and pictures. Some doctors had their hands over their mouths while others stood there and stared with their jaws hitting the floor.

McCreed, while holding his hand on hers, made his way around the table and put another hand on her shoulder. At this point the tears could not stop.

"It is all right miss Isley" he said while massaging her shoulder.

"No its not" she said through the sobbing. "I killed that little girl, as well as some of the staff that work here."

Nathan knew the rush of emotions that was rushing through her body. It always happened quicker with the female patients.

"There there miss Isley, I know the pain that you are feeling. I too felt guilt when my wife Fleicia died. I could have been there to save here but I wasn't."

The villainess wiped the tears from her eyes for a moment and turned to look at the doctor, eye to eye.

"How do you live with that, with the guilt?"

"Simple my dear, I let it go."

"But HOW...how do I let it go? I can't just forget about it."

"I apologized to Felicia, well, her grave. You, on the other hand, need to reach out to the family of that little one. Let them know that you can change and that you can feel. You can prove to Gotham, the doctors, hell even the Batman that you can repent for what you have done."

The room fell silent...a buzzing noise eminated from outside and two guards with gas masks came in. Like they always did they handled their prisoner with the utmost respect and pulled her up from her chair. Dr. Casey and Dr. Brannigan entered in shortly afterward.

"Dr. McCreed, are you prone to performing miracles?" Dr. Brannigan asked.

The doctor grinned. He had been told the same thing back in Central City and he was getting more praise and acclamation here. A month had not gone by and his future was already shining like the sun.

"No, but I do love to reach out to people and head straight for the heart."

"Never before has anybody gotten that reaction out of iv...I mean miss Isley. That was amazing."

"Indeed" Dr. Casey said with the biggest grin. Out of her zonof professionalism, the doctor reached forward and pulled McCreed into a hug. The doctor kindly returned her gesture with the same and laughed.

"There is no need to thank me yet, after all, this was just our first meeting together."

"Indeed, but at this rate Miss Isley may be given a lighter stay here in the Asylum."

Nathan almost grinned from ear to ear. "Now that is the kind of enthusiasm that will encourage progress my friends! This place seems so gloomy but as long as there is a light, there will always be a way."

* * *

><p>Alfred took a moment to sit back and listen further to the conversation between the doctors. The old butler could not believe what what McCreed had done in one sitting. Poison Ivy was one of the most dangerous criminals in Arkham, even more so than one of its former inhabitants, the Joker.<p>

His training with the British special forces tuned his old ears and eyes into the signals that McCreed was giving off. There was confidence, happiness, a tinge of exitement. He could see nothing out of the ordinary that Bruce was looking for. At first he thought that this would be a lost cause trying to dig more into McCreed and who he is. Now it is a lost cause.

The lift going up into Wayne manor could be heard descending down into the depths of the batcave. Alfred thought that it would be Bruce coming back from the Veterans Gala at Wayne Enterprises so he continued doing what he was on the computer. Not known to him, that would be a terrible mistake.

As the footsteps became closer, Alfred noticed the sound of the footfalls. They sounded nothing like Bruce Wayne.

He reached for the knife that was sitting by the monitor as fast as he could, but he stopped. The clicking of a gun was what stopped him.

"Smart move" said a synthesized voice from behind.

"Who are you?" Alfred asked.

"No questions old man, just stick your hands up."

Alfred did as he was told. The gunman reached towards the desk and grabbed the knife. Not even a second later Alfred watched as it was chucked into the depths of the cavern below.

"Thank you for your cooperation old man, but i'm going to need you to be unconcious for this next part."

He did not hear the blow when it hit him, but Alfred surely felt it. On the other hand, the intruder had hooked up some kind of device to the Batcomputer. Since the man before him had already logged in all they had to do was extract what they came for and fry the rest. A few commands and a confirmation screen later, the data was being sent to the device.

It did not take long and the files were downloaded in half a minute or so. They packed up the small device and cord and started moving the butler around, to make it look like he fell asleep on the job. Then with a tweak of the systems here and there, the Batcomputer was filled with bugs and the screens displayed the inner workings of Arkham Asylum, especially the office of a certain Nathan McCreed.

With a huff they were off. They took the same way that they came in since there was nobody else there at the moment..or so they thought.

When the intruder had returned to the lift it was on its way back down. There was no where to hide in the mineshaft that it sat in so they quickly bolted back into the main part of the Batcave. They sprinted out to the catwalk and used a grappling hook that they had in their pocket to swing off the edge and hold there.

The intruder didn not plan on using the gun that they had but if they had to, they would.

"Alfred?" Barbara called out. "I tried to call you an hour ago and you wouldn't pick up" her voice echoed.

Not known to the former Batgirl, a deadly force was dangling under her path. If only she knew. The figure looked up between the holes in the floor of the catwalk and watched as she rolled right above them. Slowly they waited for her noisy chair to pass on by and swung back up to the catwalk then bolted straight out.

Soon the tables would turn. Both the Batman and McCreed would be reeling from it but it would have to be in due time.

* * *

><p><span>Question<span>: **Who in the in the world could be pulling the strings and why?**

Ask in the reviews and it may be answered in the next chapter or two...or I may just like to see what you guys think. ;)


	7. Chapter 6: An Unwelcome Guest

**Chapter 6**

"Alfred!"

...

"Alfred, are you all right?"

The elderly Englishman blinked a few times before he realized that somebody was talking to him. His first thought was to see if the in truder was still there, but if Barbara was able to reach him they must have fled.

"I believe that I am fine miss Gordon."

"What happened to you? You have a massive goose egg on the back of your head."

Reaching back he felt the bump on the back of his head and winced a little. That stranger hit him and hard with whatever he had. Oddly enough there was not any sign of blood where the assailant hit him.

"We have to warn master bruce. Somebody broke in here earlier and knocked me unconcious. Who knows what they stole or did while I was out."

"Step aside."

Alfred scooted the office chair that he was using to the side while Barbara filled the empty space. Her fingers frantically danced on the keyboard, entering commands and questions for the system to answer.

Crime Files:

Secure

Backup Systems:

Secure and Operating

Cloud Operating System:

Secure and Operational

Memory Banks:

Secure and Operational

Private Files:

...

For some reason the system took an abnormal amount of time to pull up the more sensitive material on the computer. Alfred glanced on as a screen full of files appeared before there eyes. Each had an identity code of its own and a password with it. Barbara, rather Oracle managed these files on a daily basis so she knew where everything was. If something was out of place it would be pretty obvious to her.

Right in the middle of the screen was a file colored red. That usually, meant that it was corrupted or set for deletion. The second she started up the Batcomputer's recovery program the file disappeared.

"Miss Gordon, I am no expert on technology but I do believe that the file has been deleted."

"I know. That file was probably what our stranger was after."

"What was on that file?"

"Judging by the codename that was tied to it, it was all of the information on McCreed's mission in China."

"Master Bruce was meaning to have a look at that."

Spinning around Barbara blurted "What! He didn't even take a look?"

"No. He was busy with a business meeting at first and then he was asked to attend the Veterans Gala at Wayne Tower."

"That's understandable but the material on that file could help us understand how McCreed gained his talent."

Suddenly the recovery program stopped. A pop up appeared telling the two that the file could not be recovered at the moment and if the program could not recover it then that meant only one thing, the actual file was gone.

"The file was a decoy Alfred. In other words, the person that attacked you downloaded the real file and planted a fake for us to find."

"So what do we do?"

Behind them they heard something hit the catwalk. Both turned their heads to see what it was and caught a glimpse of a figure. Alfred, even at his age bolted after them. If he could not stop them before, now he could.

When he reached the entrance to the mineshaft he heard the elevator start. Lucky for him the tunnel was short; he saw the elevator almost move out of sight. He threw himself at the control console for the lift and pressed the call button.

Metal screeched and machinery stopped moving for a moment and then it went back to work again. The lift slowly came back down, but to Alfred's dismay it was empty. The old man ran inside the lift and pressed the button to go up. He hoped that the intruder had not gone too far. As he looked up though his thoughts of catching up to the intruder took a turn for the better. The figure, now identifiable as a man, was climbing up the elevator shaft with what appeared to be magnets.

Right about the time that the elevator reached the feet of the man he managed to pull himself into the open doorway above and try to make his escape. The elevator reached the top and right as the doors opened that very same figure from earlier reached in and pulled Alfred out. He threw the old man across the room then bolted for it.

The old butler saw stars before he passed out once more.

* * *

><p>"I reviewed the recording from your interview McCreed, let me say that I am impressed." said the warden. "Nobody has ever gotten to ivy..."<p>

"Isley Warden, her name is Pamela Isley."

"I see. I really don't understand how you did what you did, but you obviously hit her where she hurt."

"Actually I did not and if I came off like that then I do apologize. I was just meaning to reach out to Dr. Isley's humanity...you do know that she is human right?"

"Doctor, me and the rest of the staff can agree that she is as human as the plants she risks her life over. The woman gave up her human card when she started being the psychotic bi..."

"Warden!"

"Don't raise your voice at me McCreed! Remember who runs this place."

"I do, and what a fitting dictator you are."

"What did you just say!" he said as he slammed his fists

"You run this ASYLUM like a third world country, which it is not. This institution is meant to heal the mentally ill, but as I can see it, it is your center of revenge and punishment for the people of Gotham."

"Let me tell you son, I..."

"No WARDEN, let me tell you something. I am best friends with the director of the FBI and if I wanted to, I could have him send a group over here just to determine that you are even doing your job right! I may be under you but I do not approve of your methods nor do I approve of you."

"Get...out...NOW!"

"I think I will." McCreed said.

The two maintained eye contact until McCreed had stepped out the door. As soon as the door slammed the warden cleared the lump in his throat. He had been holding it since McCreed had brought the FBI.

The file that the Batman gave him put some fear into him. Knowing that McCreed had worked with the Government, a black ops team nonetheless, made him wonder if the man did have the connections that he described. If it was all true, he could be out of a job and McCreed...McCreed could move up the ranks, especially since Brannigan is the lead doctor.

Brannigan.

Ever since McCreed's interview with Isley, the entire staff of doctors has been treating him like their best friend. Just on his way there to the warden's office McCreed received praise and cheer for what many would say was a "miracle" breakthrough in Ivy's case. Nobody had survived an interview with especially without some form of gas mask.

That is what freaked Grimes out the most. He reviewed the footage again and again and it still shocked him. The newest addition to the staff was not only fearless he also had an immunity to Ivy's pheromones, which no ordinary man could resist. Maybe what the Batman had suggested to him the other night was true. The man could have super powers that are discreet and nobody knows of, or his government training could have prepared him for people like Ivy.

Who knows?

The Batman was supposed to contact the warden with some new findings on McCreed. The results could prove to Grimes that he has super powers or it would be a dud. It would be a matter of time before this can be determined.

* * *

><p>"How did the intruder get in here?" Bruce said in the calmest way possible.<p>

"Well, they came in through the way I came in."

"Which was?"

"Through the entry behind the bookcase. I don't know how they found it though."

"He..."said a raspy voice.

Barbara wheeled herself over to the old man's side and held his hand. "Alfred, how could you tell?"

"I had one good look at him before he threw me across the room. I may be old in age, but I could still tell what he was."

Bruce bolted upstairs to check on the footage from the attack while Barbara remained down in the medical bay with Alfred. He knew that Alfred was tougher than he looked, and the attack was nowhere near as brutal as what Bane did those years ago. With that in mind he pulled the security source file up on the batcomputer and played back Barbara's arrival.

In the batcave he could see Alfred lying on the keyboard of the computer and the culprit. He tried zooming in the camera but the feed became fuzzy. The cameras were new, and Bruce knew that, so the culprit must have tampered with more than just his most secure files.

The next part showed Alfred getting up in time to run after the man. Now that he was closer to the camera, Bruce was able to get a better view. Street clothes, he had street clothes and from what looked like a gun holstered on his right hip. When he turned to face Alfred Bruce could see a second holster. The man was armed and dangerous and yet he did not fire a single shot? He must have just been there for the file on McCreed, otherwise he would have lost more of his family.

Switchin to the feed in his study, Bruce caught the final part of the act. At the bottom he caught a glimpse of the man pulling himself out of the elevator. Not too long after he reached into the elevator shaft and threw Alfred across the room. Even with an easy escape out the window he still ran out the front door.

It infuriated Bruce knowing that he could missed the gala. That is one of the fundamental problems with living a double life. He had to balance Bruce Wayne, billionaire and entrepreneur with the Dark Knight. Sometimes he wished that he could be in two places at once but he did not have the power to multiply.

Speaking of which...

"Barbara, have you heard from Dick?"

"He texted me just now, he just arrived at the gates."

"Good, because we need to talk."

* * *

><p>Now in his apartment, which the mayor so graciously payed for, McCreed was brewing freshley imported Italian Expresso. Oddly enough it put him to sleep, since caffeine had that effect on the man. He leaned his head back and took in the aroma, mixed with the fine leather furniture that was sitting in the living room.<p>

"Not even the mayor of Central City was so gracious. I guess this means that i'm going to stay here for a while." he said with a grin.

Slowly scooting across the smooth wood floor beneath him he snatched the remote off of the kitchen counter and turned on the 60 inch wide plasma tv mounted on the wall. McCreed was not a man that watched television that often, since it does melt the brain, but one good movie would help complete the day.

"Let's see...Doctor Strange vs the Rumples? No. How about...Honey, who turned my son into a parakeet...meh, that sounds corny. YES! They have Universe Impact! I love that movie!"

With the flick of a switch the movie came on. Universal Impact, as it is known, is a space drama about Commander Jackson and his adventures aboard the galaxy. McCreed used to be a huge fan of the movie series, but during college it had become an addiction and did not help with his studies. So he concluded that it had to leave out of his life for the time being, that is until he got this job at Arkham.

Now he was living like a king and things seemed to be going swell.

Just as the movie had gotten to the title screen the power went off. McCreed sprang from his spot in front of the couch and ran towards the fuse box in the bathroom.

"You would know that I get some swanky place like this and immediately there is a malfunction."

He rounded the corner that led to the bathroom and and opened the door. His eyes caught on the box, which should have been closed, but it looked like it had been forced open. Wires were cut and the switches were missing. McCreed's heartrate spiked. At the moment it felt like his heart was in his throat.

Quickly he opened a hidden compartment in the wall to pull out a handgun but all that was there was the space it once occupied.

"Oh no...this can't be happening." he whispered to himself.

Without a care he darted towards the kitchen. Combat sliding across the slick tile floor he opened another compartment hidden under the dishwasher this time and pulled out a supressed MP5. He pulled the hammer back on the submachine gun and locked it into place. Something was about to go down, the question was where was the fool that would be in his crosshairs?

From the shadows a figure emerged. Whoever it was stood tall and right in front of him too. McCreed raised the weapon at his foe and pulled the trigger. After ten bullets he let go of the trigger.

The magazine was full of blanks.

"Doctor Nathan McCreed, you thought that I wouldn't sweep your apartment before I confronted you?" said a synthesized voice.

"Just who the hell are you?" McCreed responded.

The shadow walked towards him, thumping its boots on the nice new floor. McCreed set the weapon aside to reach for the steak knife that was in the drawer behind him. He tried to be as stealthy as possible but the figure now standing in front of him looked straight into his eyes and pointed a gun below his waist.

McCreed stopped his arm from moving any further when he heard the hammer cock back. His hand released the knife in his hand and it dropped to the ground with a lound, clanging noise.

"I did ask the same about you McCreed, especially when they released Harkness. The man was a cold-blooded killer when he came in that prison and when he came out he was a new man."

"Well, that tends to happen when you reach someone's heart. Harkness' heart had been hardened by his time with team x and I seemed to be the only one capable of reaching it."

"I thought that too until I read a certain file. Tell me, do you remember Operation Roswell?"

"No...I have no idea what you're talking about."

"You hesitated."

McCreed, feeling cornered, tried to power his way out of the volatile situation by shoving the gun away from the family jewels. Somehow he managed to throw the intruder to the side and made an opportunity to escape. He darted across the slick tile floor hoping to reach the smartphone in his coat pocket...

and he slipped...

The wooden floor did not help with the impact but he continued to slide closer and closer to his coat. Salvation was in reach, but the hole that formed in his coat quickly doused his hopes. Defeated, he stood up to face his opponent, only to be picked up by the collar of his shirt and thrown against the wall.

The impact with the wall was not hard enough to make a dent but it did send McCreed to the ground again. The wounded warrior tried to get back up and fell short of doing so. His attacker picked him up by the throat and held him against the wall, slamming his head again.

"I know about your secret McCreed. I know that you have powers and another being inside your head."

McCreed reached for his opponent's arm and tried to use the influence that he had used so many times before. The moonlight revealed that his his effort was for all for naught. His attacker had sleeves on and modified street clothes from the looks of it. What stood out was the mask that they were wearing. It looked high tech and was a bright red color.

"Like I said, I know how you operate McCreed, you can't fool me."

"So it appears. Judging from our current situation..." he said while drawing in another hard breath, "you want something from me?"

Like magic the intruder released McCreed, allowing him to catch his breath. He glared up at what he could understand as a man and scowled.

"Good boy. I wish that I had brought some treats with me, but I don't have any cash on hand."

"Very funny. What do you want?"

"I want Batman to feel useless and powerless. I want him to see the people that he's tried to help, die before him and you are the key to my plan."

McCreed's eyes widened. He understood what he wanted him to do and it made him sick.

"You...you want me to release these people just so you can slaughter them?"

"You read my mind doc."

"Why? Why do you want to do this?"

"Because, the bat deserves every little bloodstain that we're going to give him."

McCreed observed the man's demeanor. With the clenching of his fists, him staring away, and his tone, it seemed like he knew the Dark Knight. Thinking this McCreed asked, "Do you know the Batman?"

" I guess that you could say that."

The menacing figure turned his full form towards the moonlight flowing in from the windows. Right on his chest was a symbol as recognizable as the S on Superman's chest.

A bat made out of red paint.


	8. Chapter 7: The Plot Doth Thicken

**Chapter 7**

"We didn't get a good look at who the attacker was, but we do know that its a man." Barbara said.

"Well that narrows it down." said Dick.

"It may not be much to work off of, but its something." Barbara replied.

"I almost forgot!"

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a cellphone and a folded piece of paper. He handed both to Bruce and let the detective analyze the evidence.

"That was the phone that Deadshot used to speak to our fake Waller. I tried to ask where he got it from but he wasn't willing to answer any questions."

Bruce gave the deactivated phone over to Barbara to see if her kind of magic would work on the phone. It was probably encrypted so it would be difficult for her narrow down where the phone on the other end currently was.

"Got it!"she yelled with a tinge of excitement.

The two other members of the bat family huddled around the computer screen to see where the GPS locator on the phone would take them. Using an airforce satellite that was over Gotham, the Oracle zoomed in. She zoomed in further and further and further more until Gotham came into view. Using the back door that was in the machine, thanks to Wayne Enterprises, she was able to locate the phone in an alleyway. The location was right off of Crime Alley, a memorlable place for the Dark Knight.

"Well there you go guys, you know where to go...guys?" she turned around looking for the two, but they had already left.

"I can't believe that I didn't see that coming."

* * *

><p>McCreed was sitting there on the couch, staring at the replica of a famous painting. The image was a portrait of pain and suffering. Both he and the painting had a lot in common right now.<p>

He had just been threatened by some man who was obviously fixated on the Batman. The question was why did he have a fixation in the first place? Why did he hate the Batman so much? Those questions swirled around in his head as he sat there.

A tear rolled down his cheek. How he wished that he had not taken that OP or run into the ship for that matter. It was a blessing before but now that some madman could use it for his own agenda it had become a danger. He would be sending out people like Pamela and Harleen...

The image of the broken woman burned deeply into his mind. He hated to see how broken she was and how nobody had done a damned thing to help her. He would also hate to send her out into the world, fully knowing that she would be killed by a gunman. It made him think about what he could do, but there was not much.

Taking himself out with the cyanide pills in nightstand would have been an option if the masked man did not have somebody in his grasp.

_30 minutes earlier..._

"What makes you think that I will do what you want? I would take my own life before I allow you to take another's."

The masked man laughed under his mask. McCreed did not see what was so funny. Life and death were very serious matters, so this man must not understand those concepts. That is what makes people dangerous.

"I have a friend that you might want to speak to."

He pulled out a walkie talkie. Slowly he turned the dial to turn the device on. There was silence throughout the room, dead silence. That was until somebody spoke from the other end.

"HELP ME PLEASE, SOMEBODY!"

"SISSY!" McCreed cried.

"NATE! HELP ME!"

McCreed clenched his fists in an outright rage. He wanted to beat the masked man to death but it would not be the best course of action.

"Let her go." McCreed said.

"I will, but I need you to promise me that you will keep up your end of the deal."

The doctor looked down at his hands. He imagined dark red splotches all over them, blood that would spilled all because of him. As disgusted as he was, his sister was the last remaining member of his family. He had a choice to either leave and let his sister die or go on with the deal and she would live.

Either way there would be blood and blood always stains.

_Present time..._

The choices that would be made in the future would save someone's life but at the cost of another, or many.

He chose to go through with the deal. His sister would be safe as long as McCreed released the inmates of Arkham. It went against all that he stood for professionally and personally but he had to protect what was left of his family.

Maybe he could have a talk with the Batman.

* * *

><p>Where the dynamic duo ended up was at an alley with a dead end. The Dark Knight held the tracker out in front of him pointing it around to find the signal. A systematic rhythm of beeps echoed down the cold, dark path and back out. He waved it right and left and back again. The sound indicated that the signal was coming from the allyway but where it was woule be a mystery.<p>

"Any luck?" Nightwing asked.

"Judging from the readings that i'm receiving we have to be close."

One more step was all it took and the device started going into a frenzy. The two followed the signal to its source and found a homeless man toying with it in his box house.

"Hello." said the elderly man. "what can I do for you tonight Batman?"

The Dark Knight was about to ask for the cellphone and stopped.

"How do you know me?"

"Heh, well some tall feller gave me this here gadget. He paid good money and told me to get something to eat with it."

"Could you see his face?" Nightwing asked.

"No, not really. He hid his face very well under that hood of his."

"Hood? Describe the hood."

"Well, it was red and the rest was white from what I could see. He had some kind of symbol on the front of it, but I couldn't tell what it was. He just shoved the phone and money into my hands and that was that."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure as i'll ever be kiddo."

Something felt strange to the Batman. The old man was still holding on to the cellphone and there was a pawnshop around the corner. One would think that he could sell the device for food, but for some reason he didn't. Another thing was that the cellphone screen was lit almost as if it was being used at the moment.

"Can I ask you another question?" asked the Batman.

"Sure, what do you need to know?"

"Why haven't you sold the phone?"

"Pardon?"

"You heard me, why haven't you sold the phone?"

"Look, I know that I may not have a home or a bank account, but still like to hold onto things."

"I'm not buying it, you have something to hide."

"No I don't." he said defensively.

"That phone has been on this whole time hasn't it?"

"Its off."

"I can see the light from the screen here!"

"No you can't!" he stood up and yelled.

Batman shifted back a step and red dot appeared on the old man's head. Before he could do anything the old man dropped before him. Both he and Nightwing took cover behind a nearby dumpster.

"Did you see the sniper was?" Nightwing asked.

"No, but I can trace the trajectory of the shot fired."

Activating his crime scene investigation mode built into the cowl he started doing the math.

"The old man stood in a particular way where he was holding to the phone to his chest. The bad news is that the bullet went right through both."

"So now we can't get any information?"

"Right, but we can find out where this sniper was."

His cowl replayed the shot. The old man collapsed to the ground and the shot went right through the heart. Wit the the way that he was facing and by the angle needed to take the shot the processor built inside the cowl started tracing the trajectory of the bullet. Batman slowly walked out form behind the dumpster and followed the line.

The sniper fired from the top of a drug store. It was across the street and was the perfect level to fire from. Lucky for the two of them, it appeared that the sniper had disappeared.

"Dick, I need you to take what's left of the cellphone back to the batcave. I'm going to sweep the rootop for any clues the sniper might have left behind."

"Got it."

He fired a grappling hook up at the rooftop and ascended to the crime scene above. What he would expect was a cleaned out space where the sniper was, but what he found was odd. Laying on the gorund was the sniper rifle that the sniper had used. First he scanned the area around it, just to make sure that it was not hooked to a trap. Then he performed a scan for fingerprints, which came up blank. Nothing else could be done other than checking the magazine to see if the shooter may have left prints on the bullets.

"Bruce, you aren't going to believe this." said Nightwing.

"What is it?"

"When I went to pick up the cellphone, the old man's mustache flew off. I pried at his face to see if he was wearing a mask and the fake skin came off. I'm going to take a picture and send it to babs, maybe she can find out who this guy is. Oh, and what should we do with this guy?"

"I think that we shouldn't bring him back to the cave. For all we know he could have a GPS device implanted in his skin."

"Agreed."

"I will tell the GCPD to pick up the body. In the mean time, you should go back to the batcave."

"Will do. I'll see you later."

His commlink turned off. As he reached down to pick up the rifle he saw something shining on the ground. He reached down and picked up the little trnket and marveled. Somehow the shooter had left behind a bullet casing, but it could not be a coincidence.

"_Maybe the sniper had left the bullet behind as a message" _he thought_._

The cowl scanned the small metal cylinder and found something. There was a small bit of chemical residue present on the bullet casing. Through the database on the batcomputer the scanner was able to identify what was something strange. It had been neary a year since he had seen this compound it scared him straight to the core.

It was smilex, the deadly toxin that the Joker used to put a smile on Gotham's face. How this shooter got ahold of the chemical was beyond him.

After he had taken down Harley Quinn, she gave up information on the remaining stores of smilex around Gotham. The GCPD sent in their hazardous material units and the national guard took it from there. In his heart he hoped that the government did the right thing and disposed of the chemicals out in some desert far from civilization.

Maybe this shooter had gotten ahold of a secret stash, or found the recipe and decided to mass produce it. Who knows? He would have to get this sorted out immediately before Gotham has a permanent smile on its face.

"Oracle, I found a bullet casing with traces of smilex on it."

"You've got to be kidding me. The Joker has been dead for a while and Harley has been in Arkham since. Who could be doing this?"

"I don't know, maybe our homeless man can tell us a story."

"He will and soon. The batcomputer has narrowed him down to 500 different individuals so we will know in the next twenty minutes or so."

Off in the distance a beacon shined in the night. It was the call of the caped crusader.

"Oracle, I may be out longer than I had anticipated."

"Is it my dad?"

"You guessed it."

"Tell him I said hi."

"Will do."

* * *

><p>On the rooftop Commisioner Gordon was questioning the man right next to him.<p>

"Who gave you the authority to turn that light on?"

"And who gave Batman the authority to run about and use the GCPD like a tool?" McCreed fired back. "Oh right, it was you."

If he would have Gordon could have decked the cocky doctor. The smug look on his face just ate him up.

"Why didn't you just call the police?"

"Pfffft, the police? Please commissioner, my dead body could have ordered take out and started eating before your flunkies would barge through the door."

"Thats it, you're getting off this roof right no..."

"Commisioner." said a familiar voice.

"Batman." said McCreed. "I am so glad that you are here. This old baffoon was about to beat me to a pulp."

Batman ignored the doctor and looked over at the commissioner.

"Don't look at me Batman, I wasn't the one who turned on the signal."

"I did Batman." Said McCreed.

"Why did you do that? That signal is only supposed to be used for emergencies only."

"But this is an emergency!"

"Is there a riot at arkham?"

"No"

"Is another assassin after you?"

"Maybe"

Batman narrowed his eyes at the doctor. Tonight wasn't going so well and now somebody else was trying to kill McCreed.

"I couldn't tell who they were but they had street clothes on."

That caught somebody's attention.

"Really now? What did were they wearing?"

"Well, they had on..."

**BOOM!**

Blocks and blocks away an explosion devestated something off in the distance. Batman was the first to step into action. He fired off a grappling hook at the nearest building and took off. Gordon walked over to the bat signal and turned it off. His first priority was to send some units to respond to that fire, not some scared doctor that broke into the GCPD.

On his way off the roof he slammed the door behind him. McCreed felt defeated. Freedom was almost in his grasp but it slipped away just as fast as he had gotten the thought in his mind. Then his phone rang.

"_Wait a minute_..." he thought. "_That guy shot a hole in my phone earlier_."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out the cheap little phone. One glance at the screen was all that he needed to see to tell who was calling. It was an unknown number.

"Hello?" he said into the cheap device.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk." said a synthesized voice. "I expected you to be better than this and leave the Bat in the dark."

"I...I..."

"You what? tried to save your sister early? I'm smarter than you think McCreed. I have ways of keeping up with you and i'm not just talking about that cellphone either."

For a moment the doctor looked up into the skys to look for a drone. The overcast weather did not help at all.

"If I had a drone up there McCreed, you wouldn't see it. I thought that you were some kind of tactical genius. I guess that I was mistaken."

Putting the phone against his face he said, "You won't get away with this. I will find you and I will kill you."

"Oooooo, real scary coming from a guy that I have by the balls."

McCreed clenched his free hand. The rage coarsing through his entire body was unbearable.

"You'll see. I will find you, kill you, and free my sister. You won't even know what hit you."

"Good luck."

Before the line went dead he could hear his sister screaming.

"No, please no. NOOOOOOO! STOP! NOOOOOOOO!"

...

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH! I WILL KILL YOU WHOEVER YOU ARE!"

If McCreed could see his reflection at the moment, he would have seen a purple glow in his eyes. Years upon years he had not gone through trauma like this and in that moment the other side of the good doctor appeared.


End file.
